{"id":22411,"date":"2015-09-09T06:00:48","date_gmt":"2015-09-08T20:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=22411"},"modified":"2015-09-30T13:04:11","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T03:04:11","slug":"letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter from Washington: the war no one wants to hear about"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Spc.<\/a><\/p>\n

As Australia prepares to expand its air war against the Islamic State (ISIS) to Syria, it\u2019s interesting to note that the first anniversary of the beginning of the bombing campaign against ISIS has passed virtually unnoticed in Washington.<\/p>\n

This is quite incredible given that by 31 August 2015 the air war alone had cost the US treasury<\/a> well over US$3 billion, or about US$9.4 million per day. Since the beginning of the bombing, there have been almost 20,000 bombs and missiles dropped by American and coalition aircraft for an estimated 15,000 ISIS fighters killed<\/a>. That success rate is poor and has come at great expense. And it would appear that ISIS is able to replace its losses with new foreign recruits quite easily.<\/p>\n

The lack of public interest in this war is even more extraordinary given that all the top military leaders have admitted that this will be a very long fight indeed. This is a war that the next two administrations will likely have to deal with. For example, General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has stated that the war<\/a> against ISIS is a \u2018generational conflict\u2019. And General Ray Odierno, the Army\u2019s out-going Chief of Staff, has echoed these sentiments by stating that \u2018ISIS is a 10 to 20 year problem; it\u2019s not a two year problem\u2019.<\/p>\n

Of course, no one wants to talk about long wars or wars that have impossible goals, such as the \u2018ultimate destruction of ISIS\u2019. President Obama certainly doesn\u2019t want to, as he wants to be seen as the president who ends wars. And Senators and Congressmen are reluctant to do so because it would force them to take a policy position on the issue in an already highly divided political environment. In any case, the policy-makers in Washington can\u2019t even agree<\/a> as to whether this is a \u2018war\u2019, an \u2018armed conflict\u2019, \u2018hostilities\u2019 or \u2018counter-terrorism\u2019.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, allegations<\/a> that the US Central Command\u2014the military headquarters overseeing the campaign in Iraq and Syria\u2014may have put a rosy picture on a recent intelligence report about the US-led campaign will not help matters. However, it hasn\u2019t taken a dodgy dossier (one gets a sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu)<\/em> for policymakers to conclude that the war is not going so well. And the tide of the war is unlikely to change in the near future, certainly not as long as the US doesn\u2019t send ground troops into the theatre.<\/p>\n

And while everyone knows that wars aren\u2019t won from the air only, there\u2019s absolutely no appetite to yet again put boots on the ground in Iraq. I suspect the 3,500 US troops already deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Inherent Resolve won\u2019t be topped up very soon.<\/p>\n

Neither the Obama administration nor the generals<\/a> are talking of sending more troops. And except for Senator Lindsey Graham, who has called for the deployment of at least 10,000 ground troops, none of the candidates for the Republican presidential nomination has advocated sending more troops either. Everyone agrees on both sides of politics that this war is a political minefield. And this explains the congressmen\u2019s deep reluctance to even talk about it on the floor of Congress.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, leading the crusade to have this war debated in Congress is Democratic Senator Tim Kaine. He\u2019s also a lone voice. He firmly believes\u2014and correctly so\u2014that the power to declare war rests with Congress alone (by way of Article 1 of the Constitution). Moreover, he argues that the White House\u2019s use of the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) is ridiculous<\/a>. Essentially, this act authorises the president to use force against the terrorists who were involved in the 9\/11 attacks. Not only was ISIS not around in 2001, but it\u2019s also a bitter enemy of al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n

The Obama administration did put forward a draft text for an AUMF against ISIS\u2014six months after the military operations had already started\u2014but it has severe limitations to it which the Republican-dominated Congress isn\u2019t keen to debate. And they don\u2019t want to tie the hands of a potential future Republican administration. Accordingly, and despite General Joseph Dunford\u2014the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff\u2014urging that Congress pass a new AUMF, only 90 minutes have been spent on debating that draft bill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So all in all, the war against ISIS isn\u2019t making much head way. But perhaps President Obama will have ben able to get Saudi Arabia to commit more resources into the war effort during King Salman\u2019s Washington visit last week. This would help him regain some of the domestic political capital he lost with the Iran deal. And it would placate\u2014somewhat and temporarily\u2014the critics of his Middle East policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Australia prepares to expand its air war against the Islamic State (ISIS) to Syria, it\u2019s interesting to note that the first anniversary of the beginning of the bombing campaign against ISIS has passed virtually …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":22412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[176,273,895,31],"class_list":["post-22411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-barack-obama","tag-counterterrorism","tag-islamic-state","tag-united-states"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLetter from Washington: the war no one wants to hear about | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letter from Washington: the war no one wants to hear about | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As Australia prepares to expand its air war against the Islamic State (ISIS) to Syria, it\u2019s interesting to note that the first anniversary of the beginning of the bombing campaign against ISIS has passed virtually ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-08T20:00:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-09-30T03:04:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/407778075_5d2f270ed6_z.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"420\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claude Rakisits\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Claude Rakisits\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/407778075_5d2f270ed6_z.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/407778075_5d2f270ed6_z.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":420,\"caption\":\"Spc. Gilad Wolbe provides security for fellow Soldiers nearby during a humanitarian mission in Baghdad on Feb. 26\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/\",\"name\":\"Letter from Washington: the war no one wants to hear about | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-08T20:00:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-09-30T03:04:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd10dd9004e6b9e2c85d01dd548ab0f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Letter from Washington: the war no one wants to hear about\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd10dd9004e6b9e2c85d01dd548ab0f\",\"name\":\"Claude Rakisits\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/161b755b9cb9a95dc966d6bda5a11ff1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/161b755b9cb9a95dc966d6bda5a11ff1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Claude Rakisits\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/claude-rakisits\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Letter from Washington: the war no one wants to hear about | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Letter from Washington: the war no one wants to hear about | The Strategist","og_description":"As Australia prepares to expand its air war against the Islamic State (ISIS) to Syria, it\u2019s interesting to note that the first anniversary of the beginning of the bombing campaign against ISIS has passed virtually ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2015-09-08T20:00:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-09-30T03:04:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":420,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/407778075_5d2f270ed6_z.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Claude Rakisits","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Claude Rakisits","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/407778075_5d2f270ed6_z.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/407778075_5d2f270ed6_z.jpg","width":640,"height":420,"caption":"Spc. Gilad Wolbe provides security for fellow Soldiers nearby during a humanitarian mission in Baghdad on Feb. 26"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/","name":"Letter from Washington: the war no one wants to hear about | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2015-09-08T20:00:48+00:00","dateModified":"2015-09-30T03:04:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd10dd9004e6b9e2c85d01dd548ab0f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/letter-from-washington-the-war-no-one-wants-to-hear-about\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Letter from Washington: the war no one wants to hear about"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/7cd10dd9004e6b9e2c85d01dd548ab0f","name":"Claude Rakisits","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/161b755b9cb9a95dc966d6bda5a11ff1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/161b755b9cb9a95dc966d6bda5a11ff1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Claude Rakisits"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/claude-rakisits\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22411"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22411"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22731,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22411\/revisions\/22731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}